Wednesday, August 5, 2015

"Congressman Steve King (R -
Iowa) said last week that the recent Supreme Court ruling on gay
marriage meant you could marry your lawnmower. So I decided to test his
theory and see if I could, in fact, wed my lawnmower in Iowa."

Late Tuesday, Davis filed a lawsuit
against Beshear in federal district court. She blamed the governor for
instructing all 120 of the state's county clerks to comply with this
summer's U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage.
Beshear's stance left dissenting county clerks vulnerable to lawsuits,
including two that she currently faces, filed by groups of her
constituents, Davis said. U.S. District Judge David Bunning is expected
to rule in these cases in coming days. "The Commonwealth of Kentucky,
acting through Governor Beshear, has deprived Davis of her
religious-conscience rights guaranteed by the United States and Kentucky
constitutions and laws, by insisting that Davis issue marriage licenses
to same-sex couples contrary to her conscience, based on her sincerely
held religious beliefs," Davis' lawsuit says.

The suit also names the head of the Kentucky Department for Libraries
and Archives, which changed the marriage license forms to
gender-neutral.

The Liberty Counsel has issued a press release:

“Governor Beshear is unlawfully
picking and choosing the conscience-based exemptions to marriage that he
deems acceptable,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty
Counsel. When Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway refused to defend
Kentucky’s natural marriage laws after “pray[ing] over this decision,”
Governor Beshear did not command that he perform his duties, but hired
private attorneys to pursue the appeal. “In no uncertain terms, Governor
Beshear’s policies and directives are intended to suppress
religion—even worse, a particular religious belief,” Liberty Counsel’s
complaint points out. “Thus, although Attorney General Conway was given a
pass for his conscience about marriage without any threats of
repercussion, clerks like Davis are being repeatedly told by their
Governor to abandon their religiously informed beliefs or resign.”
“Simply put, Governor Beshear is making secularism a litmus test for
holding office in Kentucky,” said Mat Staver. “The governor is forcing
clerks like Davis to choose between following the precepts of her
religion and forfeiting her position, on the one hand, and abandoning
one of the precepts of her religion in order to keep her position, on
the other,” Staver concluded.

The ruling in the ACLU's suit against Davis is expected next week. (Tipped by JMG reader Allen)

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia has
ordered Texas officials to appear in court next week to determine if
the state should be held in contempt for failing to recognize same-sex
marriage. Garcia issued the order Wednesday in response to a request
from a Conroe police officer who says the Texas Department of Health and
Human Services refused to amend his spouse’s death certificate to
reflect he was married. The death certificate lists him as single.
Garcia instructed the state on Wednesday to immediately amend the death
certificate of James Stone-Hoskins to add John Allen Stone-Hoskins as
the surviving spouse. John Stone-Hoskins, a former police officer who
lives in Conroe and is dying from cancer, asked Garcia to hold the
department and the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in contempt. Garcia
ordered Paxton to appear before this Court next Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Paxton was arrested and booked on multiple felony securities fraud charges on Monday.

"Ecstasy becomes permanent when love no longer leaves your heart for
any reason. Ecstasy is the manifestation of love itself. It’s the result
of selfless love. The love I am referring to is true love, the kind
that doesn’t ask for anything in return. This love is what provides
divine joy, also known as joy without cause."

When
we open to our feelings as they arise, we create the causes and
conditions of mental and physical health. This is what acceptance-based
inner awareness entails; it is not a practice to put off, any more than
breathing, sleeping, or consuming nourishment.